Getting Personal With Christianity # 4

Questions about Repentance

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I know that I am not the only one who has questions about the repentance process. I did not fully understand it for years! I love the fact that I can be forgiven of my sins, but I did not understand what to repent of after I have made a mistake!

I should explain.

I have been taught that once you have repented of your sins that you must

recognize the sin,

feel sorrow for the sin,

turn away from or stop the sin,

confess the sin,

ask forgiveness,

make restitution for the sin, and

do it no more, which is correct.

I have then been told that if I do commit that sin again that the former or previous sins return to me as if I had not repented!

What the hell is that!? I mean that literally! What torture is that?

All the sin that I have repented of returning to me as if I had never repented of it--is that what it means?

Does it mean that all of my sins that I have committed for a particular issue such as lying will return?

I have always had questions in the back of my mind about whether all my sins return or if only all my sins related to a singular sin returns. I had not spoken about it to anyone with the understanding that in time God will help me understand. And He did.

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Receipe for Repentance

Recognize the sin

Feel Godly sorrow for the sin

Stop the Sin

Confess the sin

Seek forgiveness

Make restitution

Never repeat

Repentance is not a one-time Act

I came to the conclusion that only the sins that I repeat return upon me as if I had never repented because in truth I did not repent!

I recognized that a sin I continued to commit cannot be forgiven. Repent means to turn away from and lose all desire to return towards.

For example, stealing is not a sin of which I ever have to repent. I can safely say that I do not or ever will steal.

But, in twenty years from the time (or 20 minutes), if I did steal something, it would be as if I never repented of that sin at all.

Such an understanding blew my mind and I wanted to give up on repenting because my limited understanding of Christ's atonement had me thinking that I had to remember each incident of stealing throughout my life and apologize for them all over again and that repentance was a one time act!

Now, imagine that thought multiplied by all of the mistakes and weakness each of us has. I was floored and overwhelmed thinking I would never make it to heaven!

God helped me to see that I only need repent of the errors I have committed and not for old instances for which I have made restitution. The original sin of stealing did return to me because I had not fully turned away from it to have committed it again.

Joy Down in My Soul

I then understood that once I sought for forgiveness and paid my debt to society and the injured person, speaking hypothetically since I have not stolen anything, I could be redeemed through Christ's Atonement as long as I was willing to take on His name and not repeat the sin.

He helped me to understand that repentance is a process and not a one-time act. The process of learning to become a new creature through repentance is what I learned. As long I humbled myself before God and understood that Christ has me covered until I am completely clear of weakness eternally I could live in joy!

That is the joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I can make mistakes, learn from them, and move on until through Him I am perfected and like Him?

My favorite Scripture states:

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. Moroni 10:32

This verse is loaded with meaning, but what I take from it is that Christ has suffered for all my sins. All I need to do is use my life trying to overcome my weakness and He will make me as perfect as He is perfect because truly His grace is enough to do that.

Say It!

Did you know that repentance is a life-long journey?

I am constantly in the repentance process--changing my life so that I can become more like my Savior. You can be perfected in Christ by remembering that repentance is not a one time act but a life-long journey!